Dirty Work: Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership Adding 130,000 New Trees During Fall Planting Season In Pennsylvania

On October 31, the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership said it is at it again, doing the dirty work of adding 130,000 new trees for Pennsylvania during the fall planting season.

“We were able to distribute the trees across 30 different locations throughout Pennsylvania, to over 100 of our partners,” said Marley McKind, Manager of the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). The Partnership is coordinated by CBF and has grown to over 300 partners.

Roughly 28,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams are damaged by polluted runoff and the legacy of coal mining. Trees, especially when planted as riparian buffers, are the most cost-effective tools for cleaning and protecting waterways.

Trees filter and absorb polluted runoff, stabilize streambanks, and improve soil quality. They also help address climate change by cooling the air and sequestering carbon.

“Seeing the level of enthusiasm and passion for planting trees from our partners, communities and individual landowners throughout the Keystone State is what makes this work worth doing,” McKind added.

Katie Ruth, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light, said PA-IPL received requests from its volunteers for about 35,000 K10 trees for the fall season and has 33 volunteer-led distribution sites across the Commonwealth.

“The majority of our distribution locations are within the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” Ruth said. “We have committed network partnerships in 20 Pennsylvania counties and have reached program participants in an additional 35 counties. This represents 85 percent coverage of the state’s 67 counties.” 

Grants for a tree planting coordinated by award-winning volunteers and another grant for tree survival are also supporting the Partnership.

A $4,000 grant from The GIANT Company and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will provide new trees that will be planted at McCaskey High School in the City of Lancaster on Nov. 9. 

The effort will be led by Mira Lloyd Dock Partnership Diversity Award recipients Marlisa Yoder-Bontrager, and twin sisters Keisha and Tarsha Scovens.   [Read more here.]

The Dock Award is presented by the K10 for conservation and environmental justice work in under-represented communities.

A $75,000 tree survival grant to the K10 by the Foxwynd Foundation of Chester County, will help newly planted trees along Pennsylvania streams live longer, grow stronger, and have a better chance to clean and protect local waters.

Maintenance in riparian buffers, supported by the Foxwynd grant may include straightening, removing or replacing tree shelters after storms, and checking for competing vegetation inside shelters. 

Other work could include removing bird nets from shelters with trees growing out the top, applying herbicides, and mowing around trees.

As new trees go into the ground this fall, the Partnership is looking ahead to 2025. 

“As we look forward to next year, we’re excited to continue fostering connections, streamlining tree distributions, and getting more trees in the ground,” Marley McKind added. “As we like to say, it all adds up to clean water!”

 Visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn how you can help clean water grow on trees.

For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage.  Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column).  Click Here to support their work.

CBF has over 275,000 members in Bay Watershed.

Visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed webpage to learn more about cleaning up rivers and streams in Pennsylvania's portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates on Pennsylvania’s progress.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.

Click Here to check out your streams.  Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.

(Photo: More than two dozen volunteers sorted and distributed over 12,000 trees and shrubs in Manheim, Lancaster County in October, as the fall season for the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership kicked into high gear.)

Related Articles - Watersheds:

-- Environmental Quality Board To Consider Proposed Spill Notification Regulation; Blasting; NOx & VOC Corrections Nov. 12  [PaEN]  

-- PUC Approves Emergency Order Appointing Aqua Pennsylvania Temporary Operator For 6 Rhodes Estate Water Companies As Fallout Continues From Conventional Oil Well Wastewater Spill In Venango County  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Ag Council Recognizes Cong. GT Thompson, Chair of the US House Agriculture Committee; Members Of The PA In The Balance Farm Conservation Initiative Team; Student Jessica Herr  [PaEN]

-- Chesapeake Bay Foundation: As 2025 Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Deadline Looms, Officials Propose Next Phase  [PaEN]

-- CBF: New Chesapeake Bay Assessment Reveals Concerns, New Restoration Data Tool Offers Hope  [PaEN] 

-- Dirty Work: Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership Adding 130,000 New Trees During Fall Planting Season In Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

-- Coldwater Heritage Partnership Now Accepting Applications For Conservation Grants; Natural Gas Pipeline Mitigation Projects  [PaEN]

-- Shapiro Administration Launches New Discover State Grants Website To Streamline Access To Government Funding Opportunities  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Now Accepting Applications For Consumptive Use Mitigation Grants; Nov. 20 Webinar  [PaEN]

-- USGS Releases New Video: Susquehanna River Story - What Does The Science Say About Water Quality?  [PaEN]

-- Registration Now Open For PASA 2025 Sustainable Agriculture Conference Feb. 5-7 In Lancaster  [PaEN] 

-- PA Forestry Assn. 138th Annual Symposium - What Makes A Healthy Forest;  Awards Program Nov. 16 In State College  [PaEN] 

-- PA Assn. Of Environmental Educators Now Accepting Nominations For Annual PAEE Awards, Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences Awards  [PaEN] 

-- Help Wanted: Foundation For Pennsylvania Watersheds -  Grants Program Administrator  [PaEN] 

NewsClips:

-- The Allegheny Front: PA Receives Another Round Of Record-Level Federal Funding For Abandoned Coal Mine Cleanups

-- Chesapeake Bay Program: Chesapeake Bay Shows Slight Water Quality Improvement In 2020-22 Assessment Period

-- Williamsport Sun: State Of The Susquehanna River - A Closer Look At Our River

-- ABC27: Dover Township, York County Issues Mandatory Nonessential Water Use Restrictions 

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Workforce Shortage Slows Progress On Stream Buffers In Pennsylvania

-- Lancaster Clean Water Partners Blog: Cocalico Creek Watershed Association’s Collaborative Path To Restoration

-- TribLive: Nature Focus Of Artwork Featured In Loyalhanna Watershed Association’s 40th Annual Auction 

-- MCall Guest Essay: Delaware River Basin Commission Should Help Fight Climate Change - By Tracy Carluccio, Delaware RiverKeeper Network

[Posted: October 31, 2024]  PA Environment Digest

CBF: New Chesapeake Bay Assessment Reveals Concerns, New Restoration Data Tool Offers Hope

Despite a slight improvement from previous years, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said more than two-thirds of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers and streams did not meet clean water standards between 2020 and 2022, according to an assessment by the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program released October 31. 

However, a new Bay restoration tool offers hope for the future. The report highlighted data from the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Indicator.

This indicator combines modeling with monitoring data from streams and rivers across the Bay watershed. 

The monitoring results provide direct connections to real world outcomes of restoration work, such as performance of practices to reduce pollution to the Bay, as well as the effects of climate change and other factors.

The new assessment reveals that while some of the Bay’s rivers and streams show improving conditions in the last decade, more than half are becoming more polluted or show no change.

Though there has been important progress, states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed will not meet pollution-reduction commitments by a 2025 deadline. 

At this crossroads, leaders from across the region are expected to chart a course for the next chapter of Chesapeake Bay cleanup at the Chesapeake Executive Council meeting on Dec. 10 in Annapolis, Maryland.

Key steps needed at the meeting include attendance in person by each of the Executive Council members, including governors of the six Bay states, and other state, federal, and local leaders. 

Leaders must also commit to updating the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement by the end of 2025 to address new challenges and incorporate the latest science. They should include updated goals and outcomes that are measurable with clear deadlines. 

Alison Prost, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Vice President for Environmental Protection and Restoration, issued the following statement:

“This assessment makes clear that far too much pollution is still reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The good news is, advances in science and monitoring can guide Bay cleanup efforts and help understand their effectiveness.

“The new Bay indicator will be valuable for Bay restoration in the future and should serve as a tool to evaluate our progress through real-world outcomes. This is key to ensuring true recovery of the Bay.

“The next step is strong, decisive action from the region’s leaders at the Chesapeake Executive Council meeting in December. There they need to pledge to update the Chesapeake Bay Agreement by the end of 2025, incorporating new deadlines to reduce pollution as quickly as possible while also including lessons learned. 

“It is time for our leaders to recommit to a healthier Chesapeake Bay and better quality of life for the nearly 19 million people in the Bay watershed.”

For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage.  Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column).  Click Here to support their work.

Also visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn how you can help clean water grow on trees.

CBF has over 275,000 members in Bay Watershed.

Visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed webpage to learn more about cleaning up rivers and streams in Pennsylvania's portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates on Pennsylvania’s progress.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.

Click Here to check out your streams.  Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.

(Photo: Riparian forest buffer on the farm of Brian Eckman in Peach Bottom, York County, courtesy Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.)

Related Articles - Watersheds:

-- Environmental Quality Board To Consider Proposed Spill Notification Regulation; Blasting; NOx & VOC Corrections Nov. 12  [PaEN]  

-- PUC Approves Emergency Order Appointing Aqua Pennsylvania Temporary Operator For 6 Rhodes Estate Water Companies As Fallout Continues From Conventional Oil Well Wastewater Spill In Venango County  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Ag Council Recognizes Cong. GT Thompson, Chair of the US House Agriculture Committee; Members Of The PA In The Balance Farm Conservation Initiative Team; Student Jessica Herr  [PaEN]

-- Chesapeake Bay Foundation: As 2025 Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Deadline Looms, Officials Propose Next Phase  [PaEN]

-- CBF: New Chesapeake Bay Assessment Reveals Concerns, New Restoration Data Tool Offers Hope  [PaEN] 

-- Dirty Work: Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership Adding 130,000 New Trees During Fall Planting Season In Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

-- Coldwater Heritage Partnership Now Accepting Applications For Conservation Grants; Natural Gas Pipeline Mitigation Projects  [PaEN]

-- Shapiro Administration Launches New Discover State Grants Website To Streamline Access To Government Funding Opportunities  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Now Accepting Applications For Consumptive Use Mitigation Grants; Nov. 20 Webinar  [PaEN]

-- USGS Releases New Video: Susquehanna River Story - What Does The Science Say About Water Quality?  [PaEN]

-- Registration Now Open For PASA 2025 Sustainable Agriculture Conference Feb. 5-7 In Lancaster  [PaEN] 

-- PA Forestry Assn. 138th Annual Symposium - What Makes A Healthy Forest;  Awards Program Nov. 16 In State College  [PaEN] 

-- PA Assn. Of Environmental Educators Now Accepting Nominations For Annual PAEE Awards, Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences Awards  [PaEN] 

-- Help Wanted: Foundation For Pennsylvania Watersheds -  Grants Program Administrator  [PaEN] 

NewsClips:

-- The Allegheny Front: PA Receives Another Round Of Record-Level Federal Funding For Abandoned Coal Mine Cleanups

-- Chesapeake Bay Program: Chesapeake Bay Shows Slight Water Quality Improvement In 2020-22 Assessment Period

-- Williamsport Sun: State Of The Susquehanna River - A Closer Look At Our River

-- ABC27: Dover Township, York County Issues Mandatory Nonessential Water Use Restrictions 

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Workforce Shortage Slows Progress On Stream Buffers In Pennsylvania

-- Lancaster Clean Water Partners Blog: Cocalico Creek Watershed Association’s Collaborative Path To Restoration

-- TribLive: Nature Focus Of Artwork Featured In Loyalhanna Watershed Association’s 40th Annual Auction 

-- MCall Guest Essay: Delaware River Basin Commission Should Help Fight Climate Change - By Tracy Carluccio, Delaware RiverKeeper Network

[Posted: October 31, 2024]  PA Environment Digest